"Streets and highways were slick, all three runways at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were closed in the early morning. Nearly all major school districts in the area were closed.

"Tens of thousands of homes and businesses around Western Washington were without power after trees and limbs heavy with snow fell into power lines.

"Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Michalski said this is the first ice storm to hit the Seattle area since December 1996."

The ice storm warning is in effect until 3 p.m. ET, and the AP reports that while the Sea-Tac Airport's runways have reopened, the taxiways are still iced. The AP adds that just as Puget Sound Energy brought back energy to thousands of customers, thousands more were losing power.

""It's like a storm in slow motion that keeps happening again and again," the power company's spokesman Roger Thompson told the AP.

With all that, we'll leave you with a couple of pictures from yesterday that show the lighter side of the weather:

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.